One of Them
by JadeSelena
Summary: Daniel/Vala friendship/unrequited. 'Missing' scene to Flesh and Blood. Daniel/Vala conversation aboard the Odyssey after he 'rescues' her from the Ori ship.


**So, I was bored one day and made the mistake of rewatching Ark of Truth and it reminded me how much I love this pairing. Well, hate to love it, really. I would prefer to ship Vala/Cam because of the whole Farscape thing and because Daniel can be a real d-bag and well, because at least Cam can be bothered to pronounce her name properly (which really shouldn't have to be a factor, ffs). But Daniel *does* have his moments, and to paraphrase Aeryn: she wants it so badly so I do.**

**Anyway, that led to rewatching SG-1 (the Vala 'years,' cause I adore and miss Claudia Black) and the huge disconnect between _Beachhead_ (****shut the hell up, ****you're only going because I'm going) and _Flesh and Blood_ (I would never leave you behind, you're one of us now) bothers me so much that this story was born as headcanon to save my sanity.**

**Continuation of the end scene in _Flesh and Blood. _I hope you enjoy :)**

* * *

Vala stared at the doorway of Odyssey's infirmary long after Teal'c and the colonels had disappeared through it.

"Hey…" Moving to sit beside her feet, Daniel nudged one to get her attention. "You okay?"

She slowly turned her gaze back to him. "They aren't upset with you."

She seemed confused, which in turn confused _him_. "Uh… Why would they be?"

"Oh, I don't know," she scoffed. "Maybe because you had a chance to capture the greatest threat to our galaxy since the Goa'uld and you whiffled it?" She believed that was the term she'd heard Colonel Mitchell use.

He got her point but her delivery – as usual – left much to be desired. "Okay, _one: _I didn't 'whiff' it; that implies I tried and missed. And two: I didn't do anything wrong."

"I'm quite certain there are those who would disagree, Daniel." She was one of them, and she'd been trying to be gentle regarding his lapse of judgment. "I doubt they're likely to be _more_ forgiving knowing it was a deliberate choice."

Going by Cam's 'suggestion' that that little detail be left out of his report, she wasn't alone in that certainty. And she didn't even know about the IOA… "I'm not _looking_ for anyone's forgiveness," he informed her, gesturing to the empty doorway. "Theirs is the only opinion that matters and they understand."

Vala clapped her hands together in feigned enthusiasm. "Great! Perhaps they would be so kind as to explain it to _me _then." Try as she might she couldn't think of _one_ of her other associates who wouldn't have gladly stepped over her body to get to treasure. And Adria was quite a bit more valuable than some mere trinkets.

Feeling a headache coming on, Daniel took off his glasses to scrub a hand down his face. "Vala…"

As much as she'd missed his adorable little ticks such as this one, she wasn't actually _trying _to annoy him at the moment; she was just trying to make sense of it. "It was a foolish decision, darling. And you are a great many things, but a fool isn't one of them."

If that was supposed to be a compliment he wasn't feeling it… "The priority was getting _us_…" He waved his glasses between them before putting them back on. "…Off the ship. Taking Adria was always a long shot." He'd told her as much when she'd proposed it.

"Priorities change," she argued, equally puzzled and pleased at having been deemed one. "Especially when the key to defeating our _very_ powerful enemy is quite literally within arms' reach."

Clearly the expression 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth' didn't exist on her homeworld… "Your plan was to use your mother-daughter connection to turn her against the Ori; we couldn't very well do that without you."

He couldn't possibly be that dense. Or believe _her _to be… "Plans change as well, Daniel. I'm certain your very competent military could have eliminated the threat and bought you nine months – give or take – while the Ori cooked up a new one." She ignored the way her heart clenched at the thought.

Daniel ran a frustrated hand through his hair; let out a huffed, "You get that without Adria there to stop him the Prior would have killed _you_, right?"

And _now_ it made sense: his Tau'ri savior complex wouldn't allow him to leave her to certain death… "I appreciate your concern but I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself. I've talked my way out of more difficult positions than that before." In the last week, even.

He detected a hint of sarcasm and a distinct _lack_ of appreciation… "Your considerable skills of persuasion _aside_, we don't leave anyone behind. Not if we can help it."

Vala swallowed a bitter laugh, afraid of what it might turn into if released. "As I recall, sweet chivalrous knight of mine, last we were together you made it abundantly clear that you wanted nothing _more_ than to be able to leave me behind." Accustomed as she'd become to his running hot and cold, that turn had completely blindsided her, coming off of shared meals, playing games, and generally being treated as one of the team since Azdak's people had given in to the Ori. When, instead of his usual mild-to-moderate annoyance with a dash of [perhaps justified] anger and the occasional remark she didn't think he even intended to be hurtful, everything out of his mouth had seemed _designed_ to belittle and exclude her. And every comment had hit its mark with devastating accuracy; every shove and 'shut up!' a brutal reminder that she was just 'along for the ride' until it was safe to leave her by the wayside. Not even at the beginning had he made her feel more unwanted and unwelcome, and never had she been more grateful for the years of being mistaken for Qetesh that had taught her how to appear unaffected even as she crumbled inside.

Daniel briefly closed his eyes against the harsh – yet not inaccurate – description. "Yeah, well, that was before you decided to sacrifice yourself to destroy the Supergate." Before thoughts of where she was and how she was and _if _she was had kept him up some nights because if they'd (_he'd_) only listened to her idea, things may have ended differently. Of how badly he'd been treating her – enough for her to mention it more than once – and _why_, when, in the quiet weeks after their trip to P8X-412 he hadn't pushed to test the effects of the bracelets even though he'd already admitted to Sam that they'd mostly worn off. Before he'd come to accept that _that _was why. Because while Cam's opinion had meant nothing and Teal'c seemed to have developed a bit of a soft spot for the thief himself, he hadn't wanted Sam, and by extension _Jack_, to think she'd turned him into some kind of pushover (though Jack would've used a different, less polite term for it in his teasing). And he _definitely_ hadn't wanted to miss her when she went traipsing through the gate as promised in search of riches she could actually keep (like she'd infuriatingly predicted, and he'd increasingly begun to suspect, he _would_). None of that was her fault, though… "I'm sorry I was so hard on you."

Ah yes, the one thing guaranteed to get him 'hot': that precious combination of certain death and feeling responsible… "I assure you it was no noble sacrifice, Daniel; I really did think I'd be able to ring back in time." And then he could have chastised her for _that_, too.

"You're a lot of things, Vala," he repurposed her accusation, "But stupid isn't one of them. You knew there was a chance you wouldn't." Whether she would admit to it or not.

She considered telling him that whatever happened would have been better than being stuck with him aboard that ship any longer – something akin to what he might have said to her – but she could never bring herself to be that intentionally cruel. She hummed noncommittally instead. "I was confident in my odds. I haven't gotten to survive this long without being somewhat favored by fortune." Granted, her [admittedly rushed] risk assessment hadn't included the possibility that 'lucky' might mean banishment to the Ori galaxy…

Judging it payback for the third degree he'd just gotten, he rejected her explanation with a shake of his head. "You still did it. And then you put your life in danger _again_, using the communications device to warn us about the new Supergate and the Ori's plans." After a second he tacked on a sighed, "Although you could have done it _without_ making Cam think I was admiring his… assets."

_Aww…_ "I'm sorry, darling – I was very pregnant and extremely hor…" Her lips twitched affectionately when his chin met his chest, and she rephrased mid-word to spare him. "…_monal_. If I'd known you'd be so bothered by my admiration of the good colonel's assets…"

"_Not_ the part I was bothered by," he quickly corrected, lifting his head to meet her eyes.

She hid her hurt behind a cheeky grin. "…I would have done it sooner."

_Of course she would have…_

Her playful mood gone as quickly as it had materialized, she returned to the topic at hand. "By virtue of those very things, Daniel, you should have realized that stopping the Ori is of greater importance to me than…"

"Vala, _stop._" She was like a dog with a bone… "We thought you'd died. _Twice._ I wasn't going to spend another God knows how long wondering if this time was _the_ time you weren't able to talk your way out of it." The not knowing was the worst part.

Vala processed his words, head cocked. "I didn't realize you thought I'd died after my visit; you seemed unsurprised to see me on the Ori ship." What she'd really wanted to say was that he'd hardly seemed _happy_ to see her, considering he'd thought her dead and all, and she was having a hard time reconciling that little detail (and everything _else_, really) with the sentiment conveyed by his last statement.

Daniel gave a somber nod. "When the connection was severed we figured you'd gotten caught." And knowing from [painful] experience what happened to those guilty of using the stones, his relief at her having survived the trip through the wormhole had been fleeting. Still, he'd refused to write her off just as he'd refused the first time, and once again had been proven right _not_ to. Whatever he'd felt, seeing her walking the ship's corridors from his place in the shadows, had passed by the time she'd joined him in her room.

Apparently he wasn't going to clear up that little contradiction for her, and she thought it was likely better for her that he didn't. "Oh, I _was _caught, and by my own husband no less. As it turns out the Prior knew all about our plans and took great pleasure, I'm sure, in informing Tomin of them." She paused, remembering, before starting again more solemnly. "When he found us he didn't hesitate to destroy the device and kill Denya and Seevis, the Resistance members I'd told the others about. They died to help me warn you." For the first time since that night she allowed herself to feel their loss.

Watching her dab at her eyes with the edge of the blanket, Daniel dropped his voice to a near-whisper. "I'm sorry – I know you'd gotten close." He'd practically memorized the recording, morbidly fascinated (and sometimes amused) by mannerisms uniquely hers being performed by his own body, more than a little disconcerting without her accent to accompany them. He'd told himself he just hadn't wanted to miss anything she'd risked – and maybe _given _– her life to tell them, but he knew part of him had found her 'presence' comforting; that she'd beaten the odds once meant she could do it again.

With a final quiet sniffle, Vala buried the sadness and replaced it with a bravado she didn't quite feel. "Anyway, only by my quick thinking and extensive charms was I able to convince Tomin that they'd forced me to do it against my will. Well, that and the fact that I hadn't specifically been named by the Prior, likely because of the…" She motioned to her recently-deflated stomach.

It would seem she was done her narration because she'd pulled a compact from… somewhere… and was checking her reflection in it. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course." It didn't hurt to ask, though there was no guarantee she would answer, much less answer _honestly_.

"I, uh…" He wavered, thinking about letting it go, but he'd been curious since seeing the tape and her story had only made him more so. "I thought your marriage was one of convenience."

She froze, then shrugged without looking at him. "Sure, if by 'convenience' you mean that of not being burned alive for the_ third time_." She tended to think of it more as 'survival.'

He winced at the evoked memory of watching helplessly the _first_ time. "Sorry. I just meant, you know, no feelings involved." On her side, obviously.

Applying gloss, she loudly smacked her lips together and made a kissy face. "I know what you meant, Daniel." Hopefully he'd take the hint that it was a line of inquiry she didn't care to pursue.

"It's just, during your 'visit' you seemed to really care about him. Which I guess was understandable at the time, given he'd saved your life and all." Seeing himself cry over a man he'd never met had without a doubt been the strangest part of the whole experience. Well, aside from finding out she was pregnant, half-expecting her to claim _he _was the father, and then finding out that _no one _was; that was kind of hard to top.

_Or not…_ Normally she would tease him about being jealous, or at the very least point out that he'd yet to ask an actual question, but if she opened her mouth she wouldn't be able to resist relaying her 'gratitude' that he saw fit to validate her feelings.

In for a penny in for a pound, he pretended not to notice the unimpressed look she was giving him over the compact. "But listening to you with him today, you wouldn't know he'd just killed your friends. And almost you, too."

Vala wouldn't bother trying to explain; wouldn't give him the opportunity to judge her the way Colonel Mitchell had when she'd inadvertently admitted to having wanted her baby to survive. Besides, it didn't really matter that Tomin was by far the least fake of all of her fake relationships, or that she'd never given up hope that his love for her would win out over his love for Origin; that under different circumstances – had he not become a religious zealot and were her entire galaxy not under imminent threat from a creature of her own making and had she not _already_ broken the first tenet of her profession by falling for a mark – she could have been quite content spending her life with him… "I can be rather convincing when I need to be, Daniel. You know that."

Well, she must not have seen a need at the moment because Daniel was far from convinced. Maybe it was because, had it all been an act, she would have echoed the man's declaration of love instead of meeting it with (uncharacteristic) silence. Or because, if the doting wife routine had simply been a distraction to keep them from being discovered, she would have been happy, not _disappointed,_ when their would-be discoverer was called away. Or because, despite everything, he'd heard genuine regret in her voice at not being able to save her husband from Origin (or himself). Or maybe it was because he'd realized he'd never actually asked her if she _wanted _to go with him, and now he couldn't shake the feeling that the reason she was giving him such a hard time about his choice was because _her _choice – especially without Adria – would have been to remain on the ship.

He was staring at her like he could see right through her. Right through the effort to distance herself from her most painful failure. And maybe he _could_. He'd done it before, when she'd broken into his room; left her naked and exposed but in a way she hadn't intended, without removing so much as a single stitch of clothing. Called her so perfectly – and yet in that instance so _wrongly_ – that she'd led him to believe she was 'messing' with him about her past just to keep some semblance of control over the situation. It wouldn't have done to let him know she'd been _trying _to form a lasting relationship, the only way she knew how that didn't leave her vulnerable; of how deeply his estimation – and palpable disgust at the prospect of being forever tied to her – had cut. Not when he already held far more power over her than anyone had since Qetesh… Banishing the embarrassing memory to the recesses of her mind, she set the mirror aside and drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "My turn. To ask a question."

It was a blatant attempt to change the subject, but even if he wanted to ask her if his feeling was founded she'd probably just continue to evade (or lie outright), so… "Shoot."

Vala's forehead knit quizzically. "The question is not so intrusive that dying is preferable to responding, Daniel." She didn't think so, anyway.

"What?" It took him a second to realize what she was talking about. "No. Uh… it just means 'go ahead.'" He managed to refrain from giving her the etymology of it.

_Oh… _"That particular turn of phrase would seem ill-advised given your line of work." Was he not shot at enough without directly inviting it?

Daniel had to laugh at her innocent observation. "Well, we don't use it with anyone who would _actually_ shoot us." Though that meant their opportunities to use it were quickly dwindling…

"I have shot you before," she smirked, eyebrow raised pertly. "If you'll recall."

Yeah – _good times…_ He would joke that she lacked the necessary weaponry but he still didn't know where she'd pulled that compact and lipstick from or what _else_ she may have had stashed there. "That was a year ago. A couple of hours ago you took a staff blast _for _me." One way or the other, he figured he was safe.

Vala gave a self-satisfied purr. "I did, didn't I? So to recap, I've found Merlin's treasure, literally died in the name of Tau'ri exploration, bought you time by destroying the first Supergate and warned you about the second, _and_ saved your planet's star archaeologist. Have I earned myself one of those worship processions yet?"

She was smiling again so he wouldn't point out that hijacking the Prometheus, ambushing him with the Kor Mak bracelets, offending the senator responsible for their funding, and birthing the Orici kinda made it a wash. "Hard to keep what we do under the radar if we're throwing parades to recognize it… You've earned my gratitude, though."

"No offense, darling, but your gratitude isn't nearly as satisfying." Not when she was accustomed to the adulation of entire systems… "It's also _unnecessary_; if not for my plan you wouldn't have been there."

And here they went again… "I was wearing armor. You weren't."

Vala shrugged. "I knew Adria would heal me."

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Fine," she allowed with a resentful sniff, "More likely she'd heal me than you." Given that Adria was the one who had ordered his death and all...

"The 'staff-thing' kills, remember? While I'm sure she'll be proficient once she levels up, what if you'd died and resurrection isn't part of the mini-Orici skill set?" He knew exactly what she was doing; why she would enthusiastically take credit for anything she did, of consequence or not, but as soon as you touched on _why _she did it suddenly it became no big deal. He just didn't know if she was afraid that acknowledging she cared would give them power over her, or if it went so far as keeping the truth of her motivations even from herself.

And there was that look again. She wondered if he'd gained that ability through a lifetime of analyzing ancient relics and texts for the secrets they held. She certainly felt old, weathered and fragile… Before he could press further, or she could lose her nerve, she segued back to her question: "Do you blame me? For making it possible that she 'level up' by keeping you from shooting her?"

Daniel's brow furrowed. "What? Why would you think that?"

"The way you said it," she shrugged, chin nestled between her knees. "That you should have shot her when you had the chance. If I hadn't distracted you, you might have succeeded before the Prior intervened."

She hadn't even finished her sentence and he was shaking his head. "No. I mean, _yes_, I should have, but no, I don't blame you for not wanting me to." Truth be told, he thought he may have hesitated _before _she distracted him, whether because Sam was right and he'd subconsciously balked at murdering a child, or because he'd been afraid of what witnessing it would do to that child's mother.

She wasn't certain she believed him but there wasn't much she _was _certain of anymore. Prior to SG-1's arrival to the infirmary she'd been trying to assure herself that she'd stopped him solely because turning the Orici was their best chance at winning the war (and it _was_), but she couldn't dispel the nagging suspicion that seeing a child – _her_ child – lying there defenseless was what had prompted her to act. The only thing she _did_ know right now was that she'd spent the better part of a year uncomfortably and impossibly pregnant and all she had to show for it was a disturbing amount of leakage, a sorrow deeper than the Nasileen Trench, and enough guilt to fell the entire Ori army, were they capable of feeling it.

She'd retreated into her thoughts again, looking very much like a child herself, and Daniel worried for her mental state. "It's maternal instinct, Vala. If I were mad at you for that I'd have to be mad at myself for choosing you because I don't have a reason nearly as good."

"Are you?" Blinking out of her musings, she forced herself to meet his gaze. "Do you regret it at all?" She knew all too well that justifying your actions and still being confident in them with the benefit of hindsight were two very different things.

"Nope," he told her without hesitation. "No self-flagellation. No buyer's remorse."

Relieved yet leery, she lifted her unburdened hand, index finger and thumb less than an inch apart. "Not even a little bit?"

Daniel leaned over and gently pinched her fingers together with his own. "Not even a little bit."

Vala felt her eyes begin to pool with tears; quickly swiped at them with her other hand, scraping herself with the finger sensor in the process. "Sorry – it seems the Ori spawn has checked out of the inn but she's left behind these _delightful_ hormones as a parting gift to her hostess."

Or maybe the hormones were just making it harder for her to put up an act… Whether she felt guilty about being the reason the Orici was still free or guilty she was no longer in a position to try to save her husband and daughter he didn't know. Moving his grip to her foot, he gave it a reassuring squeeze through the fabric. "We're going to beat them, Vala. With any luck by the time you're recovered I'll have figured out the location of the Sangraal and we'll have…" He trailed off when he noticed her blank stare. "Right – you missed that. Predicting the Ori would become a problem, Merlin is said to have created a weapon – the Sangraal – which can eliminate ascended beings. So if we find _that_…"

"Yes, yes, yes. That all sounds very important," Vala interrupted, waving it away. "You keep saying 'we.' By which, I assume, you mean your team." She was afraid to imagine differently.

Daniel gave a little head bobble. "Uh, I actually meant 'we' as in _us_, but yeah, them too." Getting approval from the brass was a bridge he'd cross when he came to it.

She searched for another explanation but couldn't find one. "Are you saying you want me to stay?"

As she stretched out he reclaimed his hand to keep it from gliding up her shin. "Well, I mean… Seeing as I pretty much kidnapped you from the Ori ship, I think it's only fair."

Disappointed and confused, she pulled back as abruptly as she'd leaned forward. "You did not 'kidnap' me, Daniel. I've been trying to get back to…" She caught herself at the last second. "…our galaxy ever since I was sucked into theirs. You may have expedited my freedom but that does not make me your responsibility. Now, if you could have them drop me on the nearest planet with a Stargate I'll be on my merry little way." How could she have been so _stupid_?

"Vala, stop. Please…" He'd been trying to subtly test his theory, not make her feel like a burden, but it seemed he'd accomplished both because she'd removed the oximeter probe and was struggling to untangle herself from the covers. Grabbing hold of a flailing ankle, he waited for her to stop and look at him. "_Yes_, okay? I want you to stay."

If the sheets weren't so tight she'd be all too tempted to kick him in the head for 'messing' with her. "Are all Tau'ri this confounding or is it just you?" At least with Tomin she always knew where she stood, even if it _was_ below Origin.

There was a rare note of contempt in her tone and he thought maybe he'd pushed her a little too far. "Well, uh… I _have_ been told my brain is wired differently than most." When his sheepish smile failed to move her he got serious again. "I mean it, Vala: I want you to stay." He paused, then asked pointedly, "Aren't you tired of running?"

The hushed question hit hard but she was careful not to show it. "I won't be mistreated, Daniel; it's why I started 'running' in the first place. There is no more bond." Not the one from the bracelets, anyway, and she refused to be one of those girls who allowed themselves to be consistently abused for scraps of affection that were few and far between (and with _him_ typically required almost dying).

He wasn't sure whether she was saying there was no more bond to make her put up with it or no more bond for him to blame her for and use as an excuse. Probably both. "I know."

"And I spent far too long having my every word and action dictated by the whim of others, quite literally and to devastating effect in the case of Qetesh. I did not fight my way back from being a Goa'uld host or leave behind the oppressiveness of Origin only to be controlled and silenced by someone else." Not even him.

Daniel had never thought of it that way and his chest tightened with regret. "I get it. And I'm sorry." Rubbing her leg so she wouldn't take offense, he tilted his head and lifted a tentative eyebrow. "But do you think you can _maybe_ try to be a little less 'in your face' and a little more mindful of the fact that we work for the government?"

It was reminiscent of when he'd persuaded her to confess to Azdak and his people (minus the 'trust me' part, which was good because she never ever wanted to hear _that_ again), and being aware of what he was doing made it no less effective. While she refused to be one of those girls she certainly couldn't deny having an intimate understanding of _why _they allowed it… "I'm not good with authority, Daniel."

"Neither am I, really," he admitted with a shrug. "I just learned to pick my battles." It helped that he was afforded more leeway than most (something he was counting on to get her on the team), but she'd have to pay her dues to get there just like he had.

Cursing her weakness – and the non-existence of more appealing options – she gestured dismissively. "There _are_ other things to consider, you know. Such as the business opportunities I would be forgoing and the damage done to my reputation in aiding the meddlesome Tau'ri. And _ugh_, the wardrobe…" She pressed her toes into his uniformed thigh as well as she could from within their confines. "How am I to show off my enviable figure and discerning sense of style in these drab and shapeless clothes they'll surely force me to wear?"

His hand automatically moving to cover her foot, he let out an exasperated, "_Vala_…" More because she expected it than because he meant it; he was just glad she was back to wanting to annoy him. Glad she was _alive_ to annoy him…

"Fine, fine; I'll stay," she 'grudgingly' gave in, suppressing a smile. "But only because I'd feel terribly responsible if I weren't around to protect you the _next_ time one of my family members tries to kill you."

As far as thinly-veiled excuses went that was actually a pretty solid one… "_Yeah_," he agreed, deadpan, "Considering we just met they really don't seem to like me very much."

A teasing smile made its way onto her lips. "To be fair, darling, your introduction involved a plot to take _me_ away and the Orici_ down_. Not the best of first impressions."

"_Your _plot…" Giving her big toe an accusatory pinch, he withdrew to adjust his glasses. "And you're one to talk about first impressions – you stole my ship and held me hostage. Almost got us _both_ killed." Probably one of her proudest moments, besides…

"_Mmm._ And yet here you are, practically begging me to stay," she countered with a click of her tongue and a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "It's sad, really…"

Daniel opened his mouth to protest then closed it again, deciding she wasn't so far off that he couldn't just let her have it. "Yeah, well…" Standing, he began to straighten out the twisted blankets. "I guess fruitcake's kinda grown on me."

Vala's breath stayed hitched in her throat until he finished 'tucking her in' and had started his way to the door.

"Get some rest, okay?" he advised, pausing to dim the lights. "I'll be back when they're ready to spring you."

That moment on the Prometheus, when he'd informed the general that _they _were fine, had been the moment she'd realized she was in serious trouble. And this moment, right here, was the moment she realized that if he neglected to keep his word she would _absolutely_ be one of those girls.

* * *

**I don't like messing with canon but I do like writing 'missing' scenes. I haven't gotten hit with plot bunnies for any other episodes yet but never say never :)**


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